


Home for the Holidays

by Kotomine



Category: Fate/stay night (Visual Novel)
Genre: Gen, Gift Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-27
Updated: 2014-12-27
Packaged: 2018-03-03 18:25:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2860766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kotomine/pseuds/Kotomine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finally free of the stresses of the Clock Tower (for now), Rin is back in Fuyuki for the holidays.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home for the Holidays

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CupidStrikes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CupidStrikes/gifts).



The prevalence of Christmas in Japan was much less downplayed than it was in England, or at the very least, the enthusiasm for the holiday was focused in different places between the two countries. Leaving from Heathrow, there were more Santa hats per capita in that airport alone than there were in the whole of Fuyuki upon her arrival. In a strange way, Rin missed London’s Christmas. There was something charming about the traveling carolers, the puddings and other foods she could only think up in a dream. The closest answer to those in the shopping district’s bakery would be the cakes that were indicative of the season in this part of the world-- buckets of fried chicken didn’t exude the same sort of spirit. But, it was Christmas Eve now. Buying a cake so last minute wouldn’t do me any good, she thought.

 

Nevertheless, Rin found herself examining the display of cakes in the window, topped with little chocolate signs or plastic figures of Santa Claus. Just as quickly, she got up, shaking her head at even considering a purchase (even if I put it on top of this rolling suitcase it wouldn’t stay put). But as she was getting up, she noticed a familiar face inside the bakery looking through the actual cakes on sale. There was a smile on her face, a genuine one that wasn’t like the others that she showed strangers, acquaintances or professors she didn’t get along with but had to put up with. Since landing, Rin started to finally feel at home.

 

She stood poised and waiting beside the door, going through potential little quips she could throw out at the cake’s buyer. Thinking and thinking, Rin finally thought of one that would be the best, and found herself anticipating the perfect moment to strike.

 

“I don’t need my class’s keen eyesight to have noticed you standing out here, Rin.”

 

Archer thought he’d have to stop her from falling over in surprise, but she caught herself.

 

“You’re acting as if I was trying to hide,” Rin said. “I just happened to see you and decided to wait for you.” She looked at the box that the cake was in. “You weren’t planning to have that all to yourself, were you?”

 

“This is for tomorrow, the day you said you were coming back. I don’t think the others are going to be able to change their plans as quickly as you did.” With his free hand, Archer took one of her bags and started walking.

 

“I don’t need you to be a concierge,” she said. “I can carry that fine on my own.”

 

“Let me do at least this much,” he said in return. “Your home is a long walk from here.”

 

Home. She had heard the word plenty while at the Clock Tower, especially right as everyone was leaving the school for the holidays. Not thinking much of it then, Rin started recalling the vine-covered mansion on the hill that was a ways away. It looked out of place, compared to the Japanese-style home of the Emiya household or the modern skyscrapers that loomed over the Shinto streets. Even if it was in the foreigner’s quarter of the city, it still felt distant from everywhere else. Still, it reminded her of warmer times of winters from years ago. It had become less lonely in the months following the Fifth Holy Grail War, with Sakura’s smile lighting up the old halls when she came back after a decade. But after she went to study in London, it was empty again, save for the presence of the one she asked to keep an eye on things.

 

“If there’s so much as a speck of dust on any inch of the house, I’m holding you responsible, Archer.” Rin’s reprimand was slightly muted by the muffler around her neck. He didn’t live there anymore-- not that he really did, even during the war-- but she had given him a key just in case he wanted to stay there, or clean the house.

 

“Then neither of us need worry. Everything is the way you left it after you last left for the Tower.” He smiled, as if proud of himself for not disrupting the stasis of her house. “I wouldn’t expect any less from you either way.”

 

“Good!” Content with his answer, Rin began to look around their surroundings as they reached Shinto’s city center, with its selection of store chains and restaurants. Suddenly, an idea struck her. “You know…”

 

“I know what?”

 

“We may as well follow through with the cliche and buy some fried chicken from over there too,” she said, pointing at a store, in front of which a statue of an old man with a storied past involving rivers in Osaka stood.

 

If it were any other person, Archer would had just shook his head and ignored it. But, Rin was not any other person. “I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: Go to Hell, Master.”

 

“Ah, but I’m not your Master anymore, am I?” A minor correction, but she doesn’t mind; the realization on Archer’s face is enough to amuse her. Even after so long, the habit seemed hard to break.

 

“Just let me cook something,” Archer said. “Any requests?”

 

“You should save the groceries you bought for tomorrow,” Rin insisted, gaze going back to focus at the shortening line of people at the restaurant.

 

“Rin--”

 

“Let me cook this time if you really don’t want to buy chicken,” she said. “Clock Tower classes don’t allow much time for cooking your own meal. I can’t really cook much other than Chinese, though.”

 

“You don’t need to tell me that,” he said, finally turning back towards home and shaking his head at the fact this conversation had happened at all. “Just don’t burn the kitchen down, please.”

 

No such danger was to be seen once they returned to the old mansion. Naturally, there was no rush to go to the kitchen on Rin’s part; she spent a good half hour going through the house and examine every corner of it to verify that Archer’s claim was true. After putting on her foreman’s hat, everything seemed as it was six months ago. She was happy.

 

Archer meanwhile had gone to the kitchen straightaway, needing to put the cake away to prevent it from spoiling too quickly. Perhaps in a bit of eagerness, perhaps out of fear that Rin may have messed up otherwise, he set up the mise-en-place for fried rice while she was busy-- cooking some rice, cutting up the necessary vegetables, measuring out the soy sauce, making tamagoyaki for a topping since he knew she preferred it that way. Were it up to him, Archer would have just thrown the egg on top of the rice closer to the end, but it wasn’t up to him. At least this way, he could ensure its edibility.

 

Rin was not necessarily the happiest when she saw Archer was still cooking despite her offer. “Can’t be helped,” she thought to herself, and went over to tap him on the shoulder as he began to put the omelette on a plate to put aside. “I can take it from here.”

 

The smell of sesame oil and soy sauce were ones she had missed, and Rin savored them as the rice flew in the air with each flip of the wok. Although England’s culinary reputation was not the same as how it actually was, the Japanese restaurants to which her colleagues took her-- “You’ll be right at home, we swear!” -- lacked exactly that. A sense of home.

 

Topping the mountain of fried rice with green onion, she proudly set it in front of her former Servant. “Eat up!”

 

He dug in, and his reaction was surprisingly pleasant. “This is your fried rice all right. It’s simple, but at the same time I did miss it somewhat.”

 

“That sounds as if you wanted me to cook for you after all. You should learn to be more honest, Archer.”

 

Archer almost choked. “I don’t want to hear that from you of all people, Rin.”

 

“Whatever could you mean by that…?” she asks, feigning ignorance. “I’m happy to hear it’s to your liking, at least.”

 

“As much a hand I had in helping, it was ultimately you who made it. Less than perfect from you is impossible.” Catching sight of the slight blush on her cheeks, whether from returning from the cold outdoors or otherwise, Archer smiled. “Welcome home, Rin.”

Rin bowed her head, smiling as well after finally hearing him say it. “I’m glad to be back.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This was a fic written for [CupidStrikes](http://archiveofourown.org/users/CupidStrikes/) for the [Fate/Secret Servant](http://fate-secret-servant.tumblr.com/) gift exchange on tumblr. They wanted a holiday-themed story, and they had listed Rin and Archer as their top wishlist item, so I did what I could! 
> 
> Happy holidays everyone!


End file.
